Dodheimsgard live in London and I’m there!
Support acts Matterhorn from Australia, alas, I missed ( in my defence, I was asleep ) and just caught the end of Blaze of Perdition, who I can only describe as a band playing black metal very competently.
I’d already caught Bölzer last month in Finland, but that was in a big room, really far away. I’m a bit on the fence with them really. Musically they are basically a noisy raga, with clean singing, sort of presented as shoegaze BM. Well, anyway, the drumming is certainly excellent, I could listen to it all day, and this guy has some tasty cymbals, so sonically it is also very fresh. A guitar with four extra drone strings makes an interesting sound too, and Okoi Thierry Jones looks pretty imposing on stage. If you’re in the right mood – you fancy nodding your head, closing your eyes and looking a bit serious – I guess this is your music.
In complete contrast we have Dodheimsgard, a somewhat Lokian venture in music and performance. Jeepers, how excited was I to see them? Even the warm up was fascinating to watch. Lots of bodies busied themselves around the small underworld stage setting up the equipment to the wafting sound of some kind of belly dance music. You’d half expect Shiva and Parvati to burst out of the speakers at some point and join in. Instead, Vicotnik emerged, preparing a stool at the front of the stage for his sampler and busied himself with various coloured drapes which he placed on everything ( including his head, later on ), whilst he danced around – sort of like a dodgy children’s entertainer preparing a magic show, or some kind of supply teacher from hell, dressed as he was he was in a blazer ( that probably even had leather arm patches?).
How was the set? Blistering! Christ, this band wiped the floor with all other bands on the bill and probably with everything I’ve seen this year. Sonar Bliss appeared early on ( it’s always better live than the original recording ) and the amount of energy put into the whole set was seriously impressive. They played all the fast stuff from most of the albums, Supervillain Outcast, 666 International, that really long track from A Umbra Omega ( Aphelion Void ) and of course some filthy stuff from Kronet Til Konge.
Of note is that Vicotnik was not playing guitar tonight, handing over the duties to Matt Jarman from a band called Void. Apparently he’d not had one rehearsal and had learned all the songs on his own. He even jumped in the pit for the encore! I had to congratulate him on the way out.
Curious? Then catch them urgently on this tour if you like your blackened death metal to be intelligent, avant-garde and furious!
Old Man's Mettle 
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